Film processing machine



July 11, 1944. c s I 2,353,219

FILM PROCESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 6, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 lll JOHN G. CAPSTAFF INVENTOR 4 TTORNE YS y It 1944 J. G. CAPSTAFF 2353.219

FILM PROCESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 6 1941 5 Sheets-Shea; 2

I 2 i I I k [L1 QWQ m a JOHN G. CAPS JEFF INVENTOR ATIORNFFS July 11, 1944. J.. G. CAPSTAFF FILM PROCESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 6, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 nucoooooounnouooooooooou JOHN G. 041 5 TAFF IN V EN TOR A TTORNE YS Patented July 11, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FILM rnooassmo momma John G. Capstail, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 6, 1941, Serial No. 418,051

16 Claims.

This invention relates to photography and more particularly to machines for supporting strips of motion picture film. for various film processing operations. t

One object of my invention is to provide a film guide and support for strips of motion picture film, the film carrying devices being so arranged that the film may be conducted through a long path in a comparatively small space. Another object of my invention is to provide a machine in which the length of the film path can be readily varied to suit the particular conditions under which the film is to be processed. Another object of my invention is to provide a film machine in which a cylinder is used, the cylinder being provided with a means for conducting a film supporting belt through a spiral path about the cylinder. Another object of my invention is to provide a pair of cylinder supports about which a belt carrying the film may be looped and to provide a tendency drive tending to turn the cylinders. Another object of my invention is to provide a belt drive which will require extremely little torque to keep the cylinders turning at the linear speed of the belt. Other objects will appear from the following specification, the novel features being particularly pointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

Coming now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denote like parts throughout:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a film processing machine constructed in accordance with and embodying a preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1; 1

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view'in elevation of a portion of one of the cylinders;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4--4 of Fig. 1 showing parts of the machine in elevation and parts in section; v

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line B5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary magnified sectional view through socket wheel 24 and rubber roller 21; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view partially in section and on a' magnified scale of a tendency drive as used for driving my machine. v

My machinefor guiding and supporting long lengths of motion picture film may consist of a belt, preferably somewhat wider than the film, on which the film may be carried through a path which normally extends through a series of loops about a cylinder, although it may also extend becylinders. The belt is preferably an endless one, although if desired belts of the required length may be unreeled from one reel and passed through the machine, after which they may be reeled up at some other station. I f 4 Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the machine preferably consists of a pair of spaced cylinders l and 2, mounted upon shafts I and 4, carried by suitable bearings 5 in a frame member 6. The shafts 3 may carry spiral gears I, meshing with worms 8, carried by a shaft 9, supporting a gear l0, meshing with a pinion H, driven by the motor l2. 4

As indicated in Fig. 2, similar housings I3 on the shafts 3 and 4 carrying known types of tendency drives and adjusting handles l4 are for varying these drives. Such drives usually consist of a pair of mating discs having complementary surfaces between'which there is an oil layer, and by varying the thickness of this oil layer, as by moving the handles 14, the extent of the drive may be adjusted. Any suitable drive of this nature may be used so that the two cylinders I and 2 may normally be driven at a known speed, but these cylinders may be moved either slightly faster or slightly slower than the set speed by a very light force, which in this case may be taken care of by a belt I! which may convey the film through the desired path. A typical example of such a tendency drive is shown in Patent 1,238,447,

Severy, August 28, 1917.

. As shown in this patent, the tendency drive I may be similar to the drive shown in Fig. 7. This drive may comprise a casing I: which contains oil. The shaft 4 extends into this casing and carries a plate a having formations h oi annular form thereon which are complementary in shape to the formations i on the plate b which may be moved axially to and from the plate a to change the spacing therebetween. This may be done by means of the grooved portion 0 of the plate which may be engaged'by the rollers d on an arm e I pivoted at I in the casing. The arm e extends outside of the casing so that the handle i4 is in anoperative position- By moving this handle the spacing between plates a and b can be varied so that the tendency drive can be made to drive more or less positively when the wormgear l is rotated through the worth I, shaft! and gears l0 and by means of the motor l2. g

Since the oil film between the plates a and b determines the torque transmitted it is a simple matter to adjust these plates so that the cylinders will turn or at least tend to turn a't'about the tween runs of the supporting belt between two as same speed, this speed being usually selected to be carried through-a predetermined path.

be at substantially the speed at which the film is positively driven by means of the power drive indicated in Fig. 1. This drive includes the motor 6|, a gear reduction 62 belt 81 and the rollers 60. Thus, while the cylinders tend to turn at approximately the desired speed, they may nevertheless vary from this speed at which they tend to turn because of the frictional contact of the loops of belt extending around these drums, the

belt being driven at exactly the desired speed. 10

As indicated in Figs. 5 and 6,'the belt I! may be provided with plus it spaced to extend into the usual sprocket apertures I! of a film 1'', so that the film or films, as the case may be, will be northe belt.

Film may be drawn from a roll- Fl, as shown in Fig. 1, by means of a sprocket ll pivoted at II to the frame 6 and driven by means of a chain from a sprocket 2| turned by power at a known speed. Thus, the film F in passing over the sprocket [8 may be fed into a tank 22 containing a treatment solution 23 at the same speed as the speed of movement of the belt I! because this belt may be mov ed by a socket wheel 24. This wheel has sockets 25 in its periphery to engage the pins ii of the belt, as best shown in Fig. 6.

As the film is drawn out of the tank 22 after having passed about a weighted spool 20 it may pass over the socket wheel 2| which may then iron the film or smooth it upon the belt II. The socket wheel may be backed up by a rubber roller 21 so that, as indicated in Fig. 8, the film may be caused to adhere to the belt II by which it will If it is desirable to place a second film upon the belt, the film roll F2 may be supplied with a roll of film whichwill be fed by a'sprocket wheel 29 into a tank 30 of treatment solution II where it may belooped about upper mils I! and lower rolls 33 through a path of sufilclent length to reoeive the necessary treatment. After pass- I ing out of the tank III the filmmay pass over a socket roll 35 against which an ironing roll I! presses so that the second film may be brought into intimate contact with the first, this being sometimes done to transfer images by imbibit ion or for other purposes.

One of the features of my invention is the construction of the cylinders I and '2' which are alike in thateach cylinder as indicated in Figs. 3 and 5 is provided with a means for guiding the belt ll through a spiral path. This path is maintained in the following manner.

Each drum is provided with a plurality of concentric grooves ll which are parallel and which extend'into the surface of the drum a distance sufficient to'receive the flattened end I of a pin I (2 which may be carried in an aperture ll of arm'lL'the aperture being covered by a removam plurality of apertures and these may be made to 55 correspond to the locations of the plurality of;:

grooves 40. By selecting the desired apertures and inserting the pins 42 in the selected apertures a spiral path may be made through which the belt will traveLsince it is' looped aboutthe cylin- '70 der andguided pins 42.

I prefer to provide each cylinder with four groovesjo each width of carrier belt, since it is by the fiat surfaces ll of the sufilciently to overcome friction and at a very smooth spiral when four arms spaced about the cylinder are used when guiding pins are inserted in every fourth slot. However, the number of grooves and pins used may depend entirely upon the paths required. With the setup shown in Fig. 2. in which the periphery of the cylinder is almost completely covered by the spiral belt, every fourth groove is used as indicated in Fig. 5.

One of the features of my machine is its extreme flexibility in that film can be ;passed through a path which may vary considerably in length according to the processing needs. For instance, I may, with the setup shown in Fig. l,

. apply two films to a belt which is then looped mally held in a fixed position with respect to 15 about the cylinder 2 and which may, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, be removed from the cylinder 2 bypassing the films PI and I"! from the belt II and over a roller 60, and if desired the two films may be separated by passing them over rollers II and I! after which the film may pass to a drier or other suitable piece of apparatus.

It should be noticed thatyin passing through maybetakenoffbyaroller l8 andmaybepassed I over one or both of the rollers 54 or II when the processing is complete.

The Mr reach of the belt ll may include additional supports for the belt ll such as the rollers ll, these rollers being supported by the frame member 8 and preferably including ad'- justing screws I! by which the axis of the shafts g The belt ll may be driven at any convenient point, as indicated in Fig. l. by mechanism to -be hereinafter described. Only a -very small amoimt of power is ;neocssary to move the belt because of the tendency drive for the drums l andlwhichwillalwaystcndtoturnthedrums slightly greater linear speed than that of the belt. The tendency drive, however. being proferably somewhat less than is necessary to overcome friction 'of bearings, etc. The balance of the power needed will come from,a positive drive of the belt. Buch a drive may comprise a pair of rubber covered rollers ll, as shown in 1, atleastonerollerbeingdrivenbyamotor Ol-throughareducinggear l2 andchain ",thischainconnectingsprocketsfltosmckst ll carried by the lower roller ll. Thus, there isnotendencytodistortthebeltinuseandit may move smoothly and freely through the path defined by'the cylinders and pins. The belt is preferably made of metal inert to the processing 'bathsorsubstantialbsasuchasstainlesssteel.

Monel metal, or belts having'a plating of nickel.

.silver or other suitablematerials. For some purpocesthebeltsmaybemadeofoellulocematerialsuchasfltrateoracetataorincomeinstancesrealorartificial-rubbermaybeused inwhichcasemetalwiresmaybensedtoprevent stretching. Anybeltwhichmay be guided a convenient number and since it provides a through the machine above described and carry film may be used which will not deleteriously aflect the particular processing baths in use at the time.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United: States is:

l. A guide and support for processing machines including a cylinder adapted to support a belt, a plurality of annular'slots formed in ,the cylinder, a base for supporting the cylinder, supporting arms carried by the "base, spaced "about the cylinder and extending axially of the cylinder near the periphery thereof, edge guide members carried by the supporting arms in a pattern forming a spiral and extending into the slots to define a path for said belt lying on said cylinder, and means carried by the supporting arms for mounting the edge guides in selected positions.

2. A guide and support for processing machines including acylinder adapted to support a belt, a plurality of annular slots formed in the cylinder, a base for supporting the cylinder, supporting arms carried by the base, spaced about the cylinder and extending axially of the cylinder near the periphery thereof, edge guide members carried by the supporting arms in a pattern forming a spiral and extending into selected slots to define a path for the belt lying on said cylinder, said edge guide members comprising rollers, studs carrying the rollers, said studs being carried by the supporting arms.

3. A guide and support for processing machines including a cylinder, adapted to carry a belt, a plurality of annular slots formed in the cylinder, a base for supporting the cylinder, supporting arms carried by the base and extending axially of the cylinder near the periphery thereof and equally spaced about the cylinder, edge guide members carried by the supporting arms in a pattern forming a spiral and extending into the slots to define a path for the belt lying on said cylinder, said edge guides being of a size to clear the walls of the slots while extending into the slots whereby anedge of the belt supported by the cylinder may be guided by the film edge guides.

4. A guide and support for processing machines comprising a cylinder, a film conveying belt partially carried thereby, a plurality of annular slots formed in the cylinder, a base for rotatably supporting the cylinder, supporting arms carried by the base and extending axially of the cylinder near the .periphery thereof. and equally spaced about the cylinder, equally spaced, edge guide members carried by the supporting arms and extending into the slots, the edge guide members on one supporting arm being positioned in different annular slots from the edge guide members carried by the next adjacent supporting arms to form a spiral path for a film conveying belt lying on said cylinder, said edge guide members being so positioned in the various selected slots to form a path for the. film conveying belt supported upon the cylinder.

5. A guide and support for processing machines for treating strips of film of known width comprising a base, a cylinder rotatably mounted on the base, a film conveying belt at least partially carried thereby, a plurality of annular grooves carried by the cylinder and spaced apart a distance considerably less than the width of said film conveying belt, film edge guides of a width less than said grooves, means carried by the base for positioning said edge guidesto extendinto said grooves, the edge guide members path for said film conveying belt looped about and lyi g at least partially on the cylinder whereby said film conveying belt turning with said cylinder may be guided through the selected path.

6. A guide and support for processing machines for treating strips of film of known width comprising a base, a cylinder rotatably mounted on the base, a film conveying belt carried thereby, a plurality of annular grooves carried by the cylinder and spaced axially thereof, a plurality of supporting arms carried byfthe base, the number of said arms corresponding to the number of grooves in the cylinder for each width of film conveying belt, and means on said arms for supporting edge guides whereby said guides may be positioned to extend substantially radially into selected grooves to form a path on said cylinder for the film conveying belt. 7

7. A guide and support for processing machines for treating strips of film of known width 7 the number of grooves in the cylinder for each.

width of belt, and means on said arms for supporting belt edge guides whereby said guides may be ositioned to extend substantially radially into selected grooves, the edge guides of each supporting arm clockwise about the cylinder preferably extending into the next adiaceint groove to those receiving the edge guides of the next supporting arm counter-clockwise from said supporting arm, whereby a compactspiral path may be defined for the belt.

8. A guide and support for processing machines including a pair of spaced cylinders, a plurality of annular grooves in each cylinder, an endless belt looped about each cylinder in a spiral path, and means for defining the spiral path for the belt on each cylinder comprising supporting arms spaced about each cylinder and carrying edge guides extending into selected annular grooves of each cylinder.

9. A guide and support for processing machines including a pair of spaced cylinders, a plurality of annular grooves in each cylinder, an endless belt looped about each cylinder in a spiral path, and means for defining the spiral path for the belt on each cylindercomprising supporting arms spaced about each cylinder and carrying edge guides extending intot selected annular grooves of each cylinder, and means formoving the cylinders and belt.

10, A guide and support for processing machines including a pair-of spaced cylinders, a

plurality of annular grooves in each cylinder, an endless belt looped about each cylinder in a spiral path, and means for defining the spiral path for the belt on each cylinder comprising edge guides extending into, selected annular grooves of each cylinder, and means for movlooped in a plurality of loops and means included adjacent a cylinder and spaced thereabout for guiding a portion of said belt looped about said cylinder through a spiral path, said means comprising relatively fixed edge guides extending into said slots arranged in a pattern defining the spiral path.

. 12. A film guide and support for processing film comprising a long, flexible, endless belt, means for supporting the belt comprising a pair of spaced cylinders including annular slots therein and about which portions of the belt are looped in a plurality of loops and means included adjacent a cylinder and spaced thereabout for guiding a portion of said belt looped about said cylinder through a spiral path, said means comprising relatively fixed edge guides extending into said slots and arranged in a pattern defining a desired spiral path, said edge guides being normally out of contact with said cylinder.

13. A film guide and support for processing endless belt, a pair of spaced cylinders about.

which said belt may be looped in a plurality of loops, a power drive for the belt, a tendency drive for the cylinders, and means for adjusting the tendency drive to normally move said cylinders at approximately the speed of the belt,

assaaro whereby the belt drive may regulate the speed of the tendency driven cylinders.

15. A film guide and support for processing motion picture film comprising a long, flexible 5 belt, a cylinder having a plurality of. annular slots therein, means for positively feeding the belt toward the cylinder, a plurality of relatively flxed pins extending into a plurality of selected slots in the cylinder forming a spiral path for the belt thereon, said belt having frictional contact with the cylinder, a tendency drive for the cylinder for resiliently turning the cylinder whereby the speed of said cylinder may be controlled by the frictional contact of the spiral l5 convolutions of the flexible belt passing around said cylinder guided by the flxed pins forming said spiral path and moved by the means for positively feeding the belt toward the cylinder. 16. A film guide and support for processing motion picture film com-prising a long, flexible belt, a cylinder having a plurality of annular slots therein, means for positively feeding the belt toward the cylinder, a plurality of relatively flxed pins comprising rods having op- .positely disposed parallel belt engaging faces and extending into a plurality of selected slots in the cylinder forming a spiral path for the belt thereon whereby said belt may have material frictional contact with the cylinder, a tendency drive for the cylinder for resiliently turningthe cylinder whereby the speed of said cylinder may be controlled by the frictional contact of the spiral convolutions of the flexible belt moved by the means for positively feeding the belt toward the cylinder and passing around said cylinder and guided by the flat faces of the fixed pins forming said spiral path.

JOHN G. CAPSTAH 

